I was taken aback when Mr. Fancy Schmancy shouted "A pox on both your houses!" as I was unaware that he knew of my summer home. Founding member of the Hogtown Irregulars, and former indentured short order cook still on the run. Professional Zamboni racer and bronze medal recipient in the 2010 All-Miami Outdoor Zamboni Championships.

Tuesday, July 08, 2008

"The leader of a gun rights group is asking for an apology from an Oak Park village administrator for comments he made after the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision striking down Washington, D.C.'s handgun ban.

In a June 27 interview with National Public Radio, Oak Park Village Manager Tom Barwin said, "It's just completely befuddling that our Supreme Court would be in alliance with the gangbangers."

Barwin's comment drew criticism from Alan Gottlieb, chairman of the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, based in Bellevue, Wash.

"We find it a bit appalling," Gottlieb said Monday, "and, quite frankly, that kind of rhetoric is insulting."

Separate federal lawsuits filed by the National Rifle Association June 27 seek to overturn Oak Park's handgun ban, which has been in place since 1984, and similar bans in Chicago, Evanston and Morton Grove. The high court's ruling establishes the right to own a handgun for personal defense.

Barwin, a former Metro Detroit police officer, said Monday that his comments were "just a shorthand way to explain my experience."

"The greater the proliferation of guns results in more accidental shootings, more guns stolen and ending up in the hands of drug dealers and gangbangers, and more costs to the taxpayer," he added.

Research suggests that each shooting of an individual costs taxpayers $500,000 to $900,000, Barwin said."

To "explain my experience". As a gun-grabbing cop. A special person, highly untrained in the use of firearms, and of a profession that commits far more crimes than than 10 times their number of "civilians" who carry firearms.

And gee, Mayor Ex-Cop, hows a come you and your kind didn't find and arrest them gangbangers costing your city so many hundreds of thousands of dollars? Ah, I see. Easier to ban firearms than do your job with any degree of proficiency.